


What's in a name?

by Dammit_Jim



Series: Stargate Universe Oneshots [4]
Category: Stargate Universe
Genre: Etymology, Hurt/Comfort, I have no clue when this is set…, M/M, Naming things, Rush is lonely, everyone is amused by Rush's exasperation, split POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 13:26:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6568132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dammit_Jim/pseuds/Dammit_Jim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A study in names.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's in a name?

Giving ridiculous names to new equipment and species and food had become something of a novelty on Destiny. Rush doesn’t understand why it’s enjoyable, but he can understand why Young let’s it happen. It boosts morale, and as a result crew efficiency increases - not at first, though. At first it is disruptive. People argue, people joke, people try to rope him into saying the stupid names. He makes his annoyance known from day one, and is half-convinced that Young enjoys the exasperated look on his face; if the small smiles he tries to hide is anything to go by, then he's correct in his assumption.

They haven’t had meat in over a month; and that’s the only reason Rush goes to the Mess. He finds Eli and Chloe already sitting at a table with their bowls filled with shreds of red meat. Chloe waves him over with a smile, holding up a bowl, she'd grabbed, for him, as if she knew he'd come and join them. He shakes his head; he won’t ever understand the affection Chloe seems to have for him, but he secretly appreciates it.

The meat is delicious; succulent and juicy, and not overcooked for once. 

Eli almost ruins the experience by leaning over and asking him, “What do you think of the carret?”

He has no intention of asking what he means, so he gives the man an exasperated look instead.

Eli laughs, “Carret. Cat-sized ferrets!”

He rolls his eyes, and gives an exasperated sigh. Both Eli and Chloe laugh.

“The Colonel said the first person who caught one got to name them,” Chloe explains, smiling widely.

“Chloe and I got the first ones. Well, separately...well, simultaneously. So we compromised. I thought they looked like ferrets. Chloe said they were cat-sized and bam...Carret.”

“What do you think?” Chloe asks.

Rush snorts, “It’s ridiculous.”

He doesn’t think they expect a different response. In fact, he thinks they had hoped for the exact reaction he’d given. The laughter in their eyes and smiles tells him they enjoy his exasperation; his company. It’s ridiculous, really, and he won’t ever admit how it makes him feel; how it makes him feel like he’s finally found somewhere he belongs.

_‘Carret’_ is not the last, nor the first, item of food to be given a ridiculous name.

There’s the melonges: melon sized oranges Rush refuses to name aloud - Volker had come up with that one. There’s the pearkins - furry, pumpkin tasting vegetables, shaped like pears; fish-stars (one of the most unimaginative names Rush has ever heard), which are _actual_ fish in the shape of five-point stars. Then, there’s the snake eggs, which taste like blueberries but had a scale-like shell (that name sort of made sense); but, then when the crew had discovered actual snake-like eggs they named them blueberries because of their blue-coloured yolk. Then, there’s the _crapples_ , which look like apples and are incredibly filling but taste bland and sour, hence, why “crap apples” had become “crapples”, curtesy of Eli. Rush won’t admit it aloud but he kind of likes that one.

The inappropriate names don’t end there, either. Any artefacts, minerals, inedible plant or animal life are also given ridiculous names. Even, the tools on Destiny aren’t safe from the crew’s insatiable appetite to assign a name to everything they find. Rush finds an inventory with the actual names of Destiny’s equipment, but when he explains this to the science team they ignore him, and tell him not to be a _“party-pooper”_ ; or, at least, Eli does. He suspects the rest of the science team are too scared to try calling him that.

While, everyone seems to have a say in naming what they find Eli, himself, has taken to naming the planets. His choices are not imaginative. Any frozen planet they come across becomes known as some variation of Hoth: 'a slightly warmer Hoth', 'a more pleasant Hoth', 'Hoth but with green snow', 'Hoth but with acid snow’. Rush, Young and a recently picked Gate-team are in the Gateroom when Eli begins speaking to a kino, documenting the new 'Hoth' they'd discovered:

“Today, on our agenda of places we won't be going back to: _'Hoth's 9th circle of Hell.’_ " He says the last bit in a deeper, menacing voice.

Rush and Young exchange a look; Young smirks at him and Rush sighs, before shaking his head in exasperation. That makes the Colonel laugh. It’s a good sound, and not one Rush has heard in a while. Everyone in the Gateroom looks just as surprised as he feels; though, he supposes they’re more surprised by the fact that Young’s laughing because of him. He waits until the Colonel is finished, before returning back to his work.

Whatever, it is this _"naming game"_ has done to their relationship, Rush isn’t complaining. He watches Young subtly, as he works, and often finds that whenever the name of an item is announced, the Colonel is purposefully waiting for his reaction. It’s like the man gets a kick out of his frustration, which he’d always known to be true…But this is different; his annoyance has long ago transformed from silent exasperation, and is now reluctant amusement. Young _knows_ that, and Rush knows that Young knows that.

So, their relationship had become…Well, Young always waits to give Rush that amused smirk of his, and Rush finds himself waiting to give an exasperated eye-roll in return. It is pleasant; this shared, silent amusement. It is friendly. It is _almost_ like they’re friends. Rush tries not to think about it too much but he knows, deep down, he won’t mind if people continue to give things ridiculous names. Especially, if it means Young will continue to look at him like this; like he associates Rush with humour and happiness, and not any of the other adjectives he might have once used to describe him - dangerous, deceitful, detached, dishonest.

* * *

Emily had always had an interest in etymology. It was just one of the strange little hobbies she’d had. She’d given him the origins of his names with a laugh that she had tried to hide behind her hand. He’d never forgotten what she’d said. She’d told him that Everett was derived from the Old English _Eoforheard_ : meaning strong and brave, wild boar. He’d laughed and said that suited him well enough. It encompassed the military aspect of his life, after all; his need to defend and save people. Although, it also implied a sense of wild fury, which on occasion he had been known to succumb to. Rush had seen it first hand. Young, in comparison, denotes youth and innocence. He suspects that explains his sometimes naive look on things; his seemingly consistent pre-state of knowing or understanding a situation. He wonders if that is how Rush defines him _"a naive but strong and brave wild boar”_.

He knows he doesn’t yet understand Rush, which is possibly why during one of his sessions on the communication stones - to give the finishing touches to his divorce papers - he uses a computer at the SGC to visit an etymology website. He knows it's silly but he can't help himself. What he finds doesn’t tell him anything that he hadn’t already known about Rush, but it plants an amused smirk on his face, nevertheless.

He watches Rush when he gets back, smirks at his annoyance with Eli and the crew, and thinks: _‘at least we were both aptly named’._

He finds himself watching Rush more and more often; he can’t help himself. He thinks that if he continues to watch him he’ll figure him out, somehow. He hungrily, guiltily, collects any snippet of information Rush gives him about himself, and stores it away. He spoke of music theory once, and Young knows that he already should have suspected Rush had an interest in that because…

Nicholas Rush plays the computer like he would play a piano; speaks of mathematics like a poet. It’s really, no wonder, then, that he has an interest in mathematical music theory. Young doesn't think he's ever met anybody so contradictory, and so stunningly complicated; he doesn't think there is a way to define Rush, other than through oxymorons of logic and emotion, calmness and anger, selfishness and selflessness, art and science. 

One thing Young knows for certain is that the man’s names suit him well. Nicholas, with origins in the classical age, and meaning "victory of the people" implies structure and logic. While, Rush, on the other hand, denotes speed and haste, and an acute transcendent state of euphoria. Nicholas Rush is a contradiction even in name, and yet his names describe him perfectly. 

Young wonders if Rush knows what his names mean; if he cares. He supposes something like that might not really appeal to the man. In fact, he’d probably hate it. He hated people knowing personal things about him. So, Young keeps it to himself; to protect Rush, and because he knows no one else will probably appreciate it anyway. It’s his little treasure, he supposes.

He’s begun to treasure a lot of things about Rush.

The irony gets to him in the dark confines of his room at night; he laughs, before the face of the man swims across the backs of his eyelids and makes him smile. Rush is a damn nuisance, but he’s slowly becoming less of an obstructive nuisance. He thinks they’re all becoming better people, or maybe that’s just his newly-found optimism speaking. He thinks Rush and he are becoming better people, at least.

They’re on a planet, exploring, when Rush says he’s found an interesting cave system. Young volunteers to go, himself, and when they enter the sight that meets them is breathtaking. Once, they're far enough into the cave, so that the outside light is blocked from view, the cave gives off its own light. The walls glow a brilliant gold, and everywhere they turn it’s the same.

“It's some kind of luminescent mineral.”

Young looks over to see Rush, illuminated in golden light. He stares for a moment. He’d seen Rush in similiar lighting before, silhouetted in the glow of equipment on Destiny.

"This could save a lot of Destiny's power."

Destiny's equipment glowed blue, unlike this cave, and that light had only leant a tired, ghostly loneliness to Rush's silhouette. He’d always seemed unearthly in such lights, but whilst the blue lighting of Destiny leant a soft, detachedness to his frame, this lighting leant a brilliance.

“It’s beautiful,” Young says, as he watches the man.

The golden light has illuminated a young joy in Rush he has never seen in the man, before. There’s genuine happiness in his eyes; a boyish wonder, and he looks goddamn beautiful as he studies the mineral and takes notes. When Rush finally looks up to meet his eyes, he suspects Rush knows he’s been staring. The scientist doesn’t say a word about it, though.

“We should take samples,” he says, instead.

Young nods, finally looking away. “The biologists will get a kick out of naming this,” he laughs.

Rush snorts, “And come up with something horrendously inaccurate, I’d expect.”

“We could always name it ourselves,” Young jokes. “We _were_ the ones who discovered it, after all.”

He places a hand on the glowing rocks, and tries to think of something even remotely appropriate to name the mineral. He doesn’t expect an answer from Rush, and so he’s surprised when he gets one.

“Clarissima perpetua,” there’s enough of a pause that Young is facing Rush when he finishes with a soft, “gloria.”

“What?” Young asks, “Is that Ancient?”

“Yeah.”

“Could you repeat it?”

Rush is looking away when he answers, “Clarissima Perpetua Gloria.”

“What’s it mean?”

“The eternal glowing glory,” he shrugs, “or the brightest eternal glory.” He tries to brush it off, casually, but Young’s already seen the look in his eyes; that detached, stricken look.

“Okay,” Young says, and it comes out a little more softly than he’d intended. “We’ll call it that.”

Rush doesn’t meet his eyes, and instead gives him a curt nod, before turning away and leaving the cave. Young doesn’t know why the name is important but the way Rush had said it tells him it’s personal. That’s why, when he announces the name of the mineral to the biologists he says he came up with it.

Young finds Rush waiting in the hallway outside his quarters, after that. He’s frowning.

“Why?”

Young shrugs, “I didn’t think you’d want the crew to know, so I said I named it…They'd have kept badgering you about it.”

“Right,” Rush nods, and looks as if he is about to leave before something stops him. He looks down, “Thank you...I” 

Young has rarely heard Rush thank anyone before, but he doesn't think he's _ever_ heard him so lost for words.

“It’s…it was…the name…”

“Hey,” Young stops him with a gentle hand on his shoulder, “Etymology. I got it. You don’t have to explain.”

Rush grimaces at the hand, before turning the expression on Young, “You always _want_ me to explain.”

Young gives him an amused laugh, “Only when it’s to do with the crew and this mission. You don’t have to share personal things if you don’t want to. You don’t have to give me that.” 

He tries not to wince at how the last bit sounds but his hand is still on Rush’s shoulder and Rush is still looking at him in that calculating way of his. He tries not to wonder about that expression. He figures that whatever is happening, Rush will figure it out before he does, anyway.

“What if I want to give you it?” Rush asks, after a long, _long_ pause.

Young doesn’t know how to respond, and before he can Rush is looking down, studying his hands and whispering a name from between shaking lips.

“Gloria,” he says. “Her name.”

He doesn’t need to say more than that. Young already knows what he means, and suddenly he knows how important this is to Rush, and _shit _he knows what he’s doing now. He knows why his hand is on Rush’s shoulder, and why Rush didn’t pull away, and why they’re standing so close together, practically breathing each other’s air. He’s comforting Rush, and Rush is letting him. Not only that, he’s leaning into the touch, seeking out the comfort. It’s not a situation he’d ever thought he’d find himself in but now that he’s in it, he doesn't want it any other way.__

__He cups Rush’s cheek, and the scientist gives him a momentary look of uncertainty, before he looks away again, face stiffening, concealing the emotions that had been there only a moment before._ _

__“You okay?” Young asks._ _

__Rush nods, but doesn’t speak and for a moment Young wonders if what he's doing is the right thing, after all, but then Rush’s hand seeks out the one on his shoulder and takes it, gripping it tight. He looks up at Young then, and gives him a small, amused smile, and Young finds himself grinning in response because _shit_ he’s never seen that smile before and he damn well loves it._ _

__Then, Rush leans forward, pressing his lips to his. Young worries momentarily about standing in the middle of the hall, kissing Rush, and then decides he doesn’t care. The kiss is soft, and hesitant and worried and it’s nothing like Young imagined it would be with Rush. He had imagined that Rush would kiss aggressively; fighting for dominance, fighting for more. But it’s not like that at all. It's calm, and soft, and gentle, and loving._ _

__Young guesses, this is just another one of those oxymorons Rush loves to epitomise so damn much._ _

__“You’re a lot of work,” he whispers against Rush’s lips._ _

__“You _have_ been known to call me that from time to time.”_ _

__Young smiles against Rush's cheek. He’ll have to add that to his list._ _

**Author's Note:**

> I planned for this to go in a really different direction but oh well. This was meant to be comedy but then just ended up being really moody. Oh well! I hope you enjoy it, anyway. The hardest part about this fic was coming up with ridiculous names for things. Also, I intended for this to be mostly in Rush’s pov…and then Young decided he had some feelings to share and then fucking took over the fic. So…I’m sorry about that. Rush’s bit is mostly complaining too lmao oops.
> 
> I checked out some of the Ancient dictionaries on the internet but they didn’t have any of the words I wanted to use so instead…have my shitty latin translation. I think it’s a correct translation but I may be wrong! But even if it’s wrong in latin, maybe it’s right in Ancient ;);)


End file.
